Fire risks may bring ban on smoking in city parks

Discarded cigarettes pose a threat

Updated 8:40 pm, Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Mayor Annise Parker said Wednesday she is considering a temporary ban on smoking in the city's 380 parks because of the fire dangers presented by discarded cigarettes.

Smoking has been prohibited at county parks since April.

"This drought is a crisis situation," Parker said. "I am leaning toward a ban on smoking cigarettes, pipes, cigars – a ban on smoking in city parks. But what I want first is Houstonians to understand why we need to do it and if at all possible to create that voluntary compliance."

A ban would last as long as the drought, Parker said.

As Houston bakes through its driest year on record, swaths of grass and vegetation are withering and creating so much tinder that the city's parks director made an appeal to citizens Wednesday to take rakes to the park to help his crews gather up dried grass and pine needles.

The county instituted its smoking prohibition by default and without fanfare in April when it declared a burn ban in all unincorporated areas, County Fire Marshal Mike Montgomery said. County park regulations since 2009 state that whenever a burn ban is in effect, smoking is banned in county parks, he said. Montgomery said he is not aware of any citations issued specifically for smoking.

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"The issue is whether we can effectively enforce that. What I need from Houstonians, as I asked of Houstonians during the water conservation measures, (is) for all of us to stop and think about what we're doing," Parker said.

In June, the mayor called for city residents to cut back on their water use. When they failed to do so, she mandated restrictions on lawn watering last month, which still have not significantly reduced city water use as crews scramble to patch up about 1,000 water main breaks.

"I think it's as enforceable as the speed limit is," said Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck. "It's enforceable, and I think that it would bring the message that the City Council and this administration are serious about our fire condition and are serious about trying to encourage people to be smart about their use of flame."

There already is a ban on littering, so anyone who throws a cigarette on the ground is breaking the law, the mayor said.

Last week Parker issued a ban on open flames in city parks, outlawing barbecuing on 39,000 of acres of public land. After seven days, she needs council approval to extend the declaration of a local state of disaster that implements the ban because of "an imminent threat of conflagration." The council unanimously approved the extension Wednesday. It also approved a fine of $200 to $2,000 for violators of the current burn ban.

Cigarette likely culprit

The suspected cause of a fire at Levy Park on Bellaire Boulevard last weekend is a lit cigarette discarded on a mulch pile.

Asked if he thought a smoking ban in city parks is a good idea, city parks Director Joe Turner said, "Anything that stops a fire is a good idea."